Thursday, November 5, 2009

New Gay Marriage Anthem (AUDIO)

Exclusive audio interview w/ Lee Swislow, Executive Director of the Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), about the defeat of Gay Marriage on Maine's ballot referendum@OUTTAKE VOICES™Maine Voters Repeal Law Allowing Gay Marriage: Read More...When will America learn that it’s unconstitutional for the majority to vote on the rights of a minority??? Updates to Come... There's nothing stronger than the power of music to express our support & hopefully change hearts & minds on this issue. In this brilliant rendition of Carly Simon's "That's The Way I Always Heard It Should Be", Broadway & Cabaret Divas Liz Callaway & sister Ann Hampton Callaway have recorded this moving duet....

3 Comments:

We are disappointed and disheartened by results in Maine, where we saw marriage equality eliminated for loving and committed couples. It’s wrong to take basic rights and protections away from neighbors, friends and co-workers who just want the same opportunity to care for their loved ones and families. It’s wrong, unfair and, frankly, un-American. Many Mainers voted that responsibility and commitment should continue to be respected and protected, but a slim majority wrested away the basic protections of marriage from couples and their families. Opponents campaigned on fear and misinformation leaving those loving and committed gay and lesbian couples- and our allies- back to square one: forced to lead lives without the needed protections that marriage affords. We must commit to sharing more stories on the truth about our lives and families to ensure the legal protections of marriage for all loving, committed couples.

Jarrett Barrios is President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)

Mainers voted to overturn the marriage equality law that would have enabled loving, committed same-sex couples to marry.

Maine’s same-sex couples – and our allies and friends all over the country - are experiencing a world of hurt and pain. Mainers have been denied full equality and full citizenship in their state. We have been told to remain outsiders. Gay and lesbian couples must explain this vote to their children. And at some point soon, we will all have to pick ourselves up and fight again.

I can say unequivocally that we should be proud of our community and the fight we waged. This campaign was run smartly, strategically, with heart and with broad and generous support from across the country. I salute every person who has given of him or herself, every campaign staffer, every volunteer, every donor, every Maine couple who told their story.

Social justice movements are hard, and they require planning, patience, and persistence. We’ve got all of that, as well as passion. We have all grown stronger together, and one day, very soon, we will win.

Tuesday’s elections produced both great successes and great disappointment for the LGBT community. We can celebrate that voters in the state of Washington soundly defeated a referendum to overturn that state’s new domestic partnership law. In Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, Annise Parker, an out lesbian, came in first in a crowded race and is now the frontrunner in the Dec. 12th run-off to elect that city’s mayor. In Kalamazoo, Michigan, voters approved an ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity by a wide margin.

The results from Maine, where voters overturned the state’s same-sex marriage law, are deeply hurtful and disappointing. But we should not feel defeated. LGBT Americans and our allies will continue our march toward full equality. History and justice are on our side and we will prevail.

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus and the first, and only, out lesbian elected to Congress.